


I'd Lie

by Meatball



Series: SouMako Week 2015 [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 04:51:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4990960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball/pseuds/Meatball
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 2 Submission for SouMako Week 2015</p><p>Prompt: AU<strike>/Crossover</strike></p><p>Sousuke is driven out of his home. Makoto to the rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'd Lie

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a chapter of a much bigger SouMako project I'm working on. I'll start posting that once I fill in more of the pieces. This particular chunk will likely get at least one more edit/rewrite before that happens. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a quick glimpse of Makoto and Sousuke in their college years.
> 
> Title is taken from [Taylor Swift's song of the same name.](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/taylorswift/idlie.html)

**March 2016**

Makoto’s eyes fly open. It’s still dark out, but he can see just fine, the city’s bright mercury lamps providing enough ambient light. He looks around, eyes squinting at the large, red, glowing numbers across the room. _2:18 AM._ What had woken him up?

The loud knocking on the front door answers his question and he groans at the prospect of getting out from under his comfortable blankets to answer it. He finally rolls out of bed, silently cursing whoever is at his door at this god-awful hour.  He normally wouldn’t be so grumpy but he has an exam in the morning and he wants to get a bit more sleep in before getting in a couple more hours of cramming.

The sharp rapping on the door calls once again. “Coming,” he mumbles as his bare feet hit the floor. He shuffles past Haru’s room and notices the door slightly ajar. Not home. Must've stayed with Rin.

Five more knocks as he walks through the living room. “Yeah, okay. Alright,” he calls out as he approaches the door. When he gets there, he looks through the peephole and catches a scowling face. “What the-,” he mutters and opens the door.

“Sousuke?” His eyebrows furrow in confusion, stepping aside to invite the other man in. “What are you doing here so late?”

The taller man stands in place for a few moments, backpack over his left shoulder, hands shoved in his jacket pockets. His teal eyes study Makoto, as if contemplating the unspoken invitation before stepping inside.

“Nanase’s at my place,” he grumbles as he toes off his shoes. He turns to Makoto as the door closes and the lights turn on.

Worry crosses Makoto’s face. “Are y- Is everything okay?”

Sousuke’s eyes widen a bit. He stutters as he immediately tries to explain. “No- yes. Sorry! Everything’s fine. No need to worry.” His face softens. Makoto notes that he looks tired. _Well, of course he’s tired. It’s two in the morning._

“Ah-,” he stammers a bit. “Sorry, I, uh-.” Sousuke scrunches his face and wipes a hand across his eyes. He releases a weary sigh, tinged ever-so-slightly with exasperation and turns a helpless teal gaze toward the brunet.

“Rin is-,” Makoto watches Sousuke’s shoulders rise as he takes in a breath and falls as he breathes out in resignation.

“-loud.”

  


* * *

  


Sousuke follows Makoto’s face as it changes from confused to concerned to- embarrassed? No. Amused. _Huh, his face really is expressive._

“Pfff-,” Makoto sputters, before giggling and then breaking outright into stomach-clutching laughter, snorting and all.  It’s contagious and it isn’t long before Sousuke finds himself in hysterics as well. It lifts some of the exhaustion off of his body.

“Oh my _god,_ Sousuke,” Makoto finally manages to cough out. He’s bent over, propping himself up with one hand on the door jamb while holding his side with another and trying to catch his breath. “I don’t...I don’t think I ever...wanted to know that.”

“Yeah? Well, welcome to my misery,” he returns, gasping for air.

When they finally manage to gather themselves together, Makoto leads Sousuke towards the living room.

“Seriously. Be glad you weren’t there to hear it. That was something I really didn’t need to know about my best friend.”

Makoto lets out a soft chuckle and coughs a small apology for laughing. “Well, you’re definitely welcome to crash on the couch. Let me grab you some stuff.”

Sousuke places his bag in front of the side table and takes off his jacket, tossing it over the couch’s arm. He grabs a seat as Makoto wanders back to his bedroom. Sousuke turns to see him coming back with a fleece blanket and a pillow.

“I hope these are good enough. The temperature’s generally pretty comfortable in here but if you need more blanket, you’re free to grab another from my closet. I’ll keep the door open.”

“Yeah,” Sousuke responds, noting that Makoto himself wore only his pajama pants. “I should be alright.”

Makoto smiles warmly as he stifles a yawn. Sousuke sends back a smile of his own.

“Hey, thanks, Makoto. Seriously, I owe you. I’ve got a big exam at 9 and I just- I was not going to get back to sleep there.” Sousuke shivers at the memory. He wasn’t really disgusted or anything. Truth be told, he found it a bit titillating, but that was even more reason to leave. Finals week has been a bitch. He’d already had a long day, and tomorrow was going to be another one. He just needed to sleep. And he certainly wasn’t going to admit enjoying even a little bit of his role as an unwitting audience to Rin and Haru’s sexcapades.

“Don’t worry about it. I have an exam tomorrow morning too. I need to get back to sleep soon.”

“Ah. Sorry to get you up so late,” Sousuke mutters sheepishly. He looks up and meets Makoto’s green eyes, bright and smiling, even when shadowed by a bit of fatigue.

He refocuses his gaze and takes notice of the other man’s muscular form. _Did he have a growth spurt? Maybe it's the training._ He wonders what training regimen Makoto follows when he feels a pang of envy at the thought that Makoto was on the school's swim team while he himself was in rehab. He quickly pushes it away, scolding himself for the self-pity. But still…

 _Man, he got even more defined since high school. I’m really starting to fall behind. I need to work out._ He rolls his right shoulder unconsciously. The old injury will never fully heal but surgery and physical therapy have restored much of his shoulder’s function. Still, he isn’t quite up to snuff. His thoughts begin to drift but Makoto’s voice pulls him right back to reality.

“It’s alright, Sousuke, really!” Makoto protests. “Just get your rest. If you get up before I do, there’s food in the fridge. Feel free to make yourself some breakfast.”

“Alright, man. Thanks.”

“Good night, Sousuke.”

“Good night.”

Makoto starts back toward his room. As Sousuke turns off the light, he hears Makoto call out.

“I promise to not make any weird noises,” he teases. Sousuke can practically see the laughter in Makoto’s eyes. _Is he sassing me? He’s sassing me._

“Don’t make any promises you can’t keep, Tachibana,” he teases right back before settling into sleep.

  


* * *

  


Sousuke wakes up the next morning to the sound of sizzling and the smell of bacon and eggs. He opens his eyes and is momentarily left disoriented before he remembers that Rin and Haru had driven him out of his own apartment. Blinking the sleep from his eyes but not moving, he turns his gaze over to the kitchen/dining area and to the figure standing at the counter. Makoto is still dressed as he was a few hours before: in his pajama pants and bare feet, with the addition of a dark orange tank top and a blue apron that seems just a tad too small for his large frame.

He takes a minute or two to observe the brunet unnoticed. Makoto’s back is definitely broader and even more well-defined than it was in high school. He might have even gotten a bit taller, too. _Looks good on him. I wonder how he’s doing on the swim team._ The pang of envy from last night comes back with just a bit more force, probing the weakened defenses of his sleep-addled brain. He can’t compete anymore. Hell, he can’t even compete at the high school level if he wanted to. His swimming these days consists of wading in and doing resistance exercises. It’ll be a while yet before he can be even close to good swimming form again. If ever.

He closes his eyes and releases a slow stream of air through his nose. He can feel the familiar anger bubble up and now isn’t a good time for it. _Besides,_ he reminds himself, _getting pissed off isn’t going to do a whole lot of good anyway. Let’s do what we can, Sou._ He takes another slow breath, swallowing the bitterness, beginning to feel the negative feelings subside.

A shuffle in the kitchen causes his eyes to flutter open once again and he sees Makoto facing him, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, occupied with placing food on the table with one hand while studying from a notebook in the other. Sousuke watches him set a plate down and pause, brows furrowed in concentration, lips moving slightly as he reads. When he seems satisfied, Makoto turns back to the counter to retrieve more plates, these ones empty, to place on the table.

“Eggs and bacon, sleeping beauty,” Makoto’s voice floats out of the kitchen.

Sousuke stiffens in surprise, as the other man’s face is still looking squarely at the notebook, but also in embarrassment at apparently being caught staring.

“Or,” green eyes glint above the rim of the lenses, catching Sousuke’s gaze, ”you could keep laying there and watch me cram for my final.” Sousuke catches a twitch on Makoto’s lip, as if he was trying to keep from smiling.

Doing his best to look disinterested, Sousuke rolls onto his back, raises his arms above his head, and groans through a long, languid stretch. He rolls back to his side, facing Makoto, resting his head on a folded arm.

"Or option three,” he proposes, “I could eat here on the couch and watch you cram for a while. The faces you make are entertaining." He fixes his gaze on Makoto, taking up the challenge of this staring contest.

It lasts a only a few seconds before Makoto’s composure breaks and his half-smirk morphs into a giggle.

Sousuke grins at the now-red-faced Makoto and hops off the couch, heading towards the kitchen. “When did you get so cheeky, Tachibana?”

Makoto shrugs, remnants of a blush still on his cheeks, before turning back to the counter to grab the rest of the accoutrements to put on the table. “Not really sure, myself. I’m guessing it’s Rin’s fault.”

The comment earns a thoughtful nod from Sousuke, who runs his fingers through his sleep-disheveled dark brown locks. “Yeah, sounds like it.”

“Gotta keep up. He’s rubbing off on Haru, too. I mean, he was already a smart-ass, but his brand of smart-assedness has been...enhanced somehow?”

“Well, as long as the crying-at-everything thing isn’t contagious, I don’t see how it’s so bad.” Both of them chuckle. Rin’s propensity to shed a tear or fifty over the smallest stuff is notorious among their circle and will never _not_ be subject to mockery. Sousuke’s eyes wander to the food on the kitchen table and he becomes acutely aware of how hungry he is.

“Food looks good, Makoto.” He glances over and is suddenly self-conscious when he finds that Makoto already had his eyes on him. He quickly tries to keep his cool. “I thought you didn’t cook?”

Like Rin's tears, Makoto's ineptitude in the kitchen is legendary. That he didn't summon the fire department this morning comes as a bit of a surprise to Sousuke. Maybe Haru finally got fed up with it.

Sousuke observes the blush return to Makoto’s face. _Man, he blushes like Rin cries,_ he smiles to himself as Makoto puts his notebook to his face and peers at him from behind it.

“Uh, not really, but I manage. Necessity. Haru normally cooks when he’s around but he’s  gone so much I had to learn. Going out gets expensive. Haru taught me.”

Sousuke raises an eyebrow but says nothing.

Makoto’s eyes widen and he starts waving his notebook in front of him as some form of defense. “Oh! But this stuff easy! Promise I’m not trying to kill you!"

The raised eyebrow goes up another couple of centimeters, Sousuke trying really hard to non-verbally express his doubts with a straight face but how does one even fight against a blushing Makoto Tachibana? He breaks out into laughter instead.

"I'm teasing, Makoto. These look-," he pauses and bends down to take a couple of exaggerated sniffs at the plate of food. "-and smell just fine."

Makoto sighs, recollecting himself and throwing Sousuke a frown of mock disapproval before smiling and inviting him to sit down.

"You laugh," he says, taking off his glasses and putting on an unassuming smile, "but I bet you didn't know I bake like a demon."

"Oh?"

"Mm-hmm," Makoto nods as he serves himself some breakfast. "I make a killer chocolate cheesecake."

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [The Tumblrs.](http://idontevenswim.tumblr.com)


End file.
